IBM Helps Danone to Accelerate and Secure Order Processing and B2B Interactions Through a Smarter Commerce Partner Network

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LAS VEGAS and ARMONK, N.Y.
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12 Apr 2011:
IBM today (NYSE: IBM), announced that Danone, a leading global dairy producer, is working with IBM to provide a secure trading network which helps expedite and automate business transactions with its customers, business partners and suppliers.

IBM is replacing Danone's existing network to increase the flexibility and responsiveness of its business-to-business (B2B) commercial interactions to improve its overall customer experience.

Part of IBM's unfolding Smarter Commerce portfolio, IBM's Sterling Collaboration Network, is being rolled out across Danone's global business units, each including multiple sales and distribution points and factories. The large-scale deployment involves the onboarding of up to 600 trading partners to the IBM network and management of nine million messages a year.

The project supports the full spectrum of Danone's order-to-cash processes, including ordering, invoicing, delivery and logistics. The solution provides traditional electronic data interchange (EDI) across a diverse range of formats required by Danone's partners, allowing third party data to be integrated with Danone's warehouse data.

IBM's solution was selected by Danone to improve flexibility in its ability to respond to the individual needs of its customers, which include large retailers. By delivering real-time visibility and control over the business processes shared with its community of customers and partners, IBM's Sterling Collaboration Network brings Danone accuracy and speed in responding to customer demands, largely enhancing the customer experience.

"IBM's Sterling team was quick to react to our requests for increased flexibility in meeting trading partners' needs," said Hans Vollebregt EDI solutions at Danone Information Systems. "The company also has a proven track record in Europe in providing B2B integration as-a-Service. And the team's willingness and ability to meet our needs is what made all the difference in our choice of a B2B partner."

Danone also looked to gain greater reliability and availability from its B2B network provider to lower costs. The increased B2B network reliability ensures that Danone does not suffer any downtime in its B2B operations, while enhanced visibility improves performance and control over operations. Coupled with the ability to onboard new Danone business units and trading partners quickly, these improvements drive down costs for Danone.

"Success in the fast-moving consumer goods sector depends entirely on the ability to communicate immediately and effectively with different partners across the supply chain to gain control over processes and inventory," said Ronald Teijken, IBM EMEA manufacturing industry executive. "With its large trading partner network, Danone will reap the benefits of providing an optimized trading network with streamlined business processes."